Quote:
Originally Posted by AJD804
Pat Patterson told a story about Ali's involvement in that Mania main event. He was originally scheduled to be the referee but Patterson said the day of the match he wasn't in any condition to get in the ring. That is why Patterson became the ref and Ali was the outside referee. Pat never said what Ali's problem was, but he implied it may have been the beginning of his Parkinson's
Ali is my favorite athlete of all time. His biography by Thomas Hauser is the first book I ever read cover to cover and helped create my love of reading, writing, and boxing. This was in ninth grade.
The fact of the matter is that Ali had a full diagnosis by the Mayo Clinic prior to his bout with Larry Holmes in 1980. In the book it has the official results, where it already said he had abnormal brain activity and slurred speech. He also failed doing the test you see during sobriety testing where you stick your arms straight out parallel to the ground and then try to touch your nose.
Money talks though, and Ali made eight million for the savage beating he took from Holmes, who actually took it a bit easy on him. A little over a year later, Ali would fight again, mercifully, his final bout.
In short, by WrestleMania I, in 1985, he was certainly starting to have his bad days, and can see why Patterson didn't want him in there. I know you said Patterson didn't say why Ali wasn't in any shape to be the main ref that night, but it wasn't drugs or alcohol, so it stands to reason, like you suggested the Parkinson's was getting the better of him that day. Still though, as I think I wrote on my wrap-up, it was good seeing him looking closer to his heyday then the way he looked the last two decades.